


Everything She Does is Magic

by TheShortestManOnEarth



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Connie is the best, Connie is the hero of SUF and you can't change my mind, Fluff with Angst, Reflection, Series Finale, Spoilers for finale, White Diamond is the worst, connverse - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23373829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheShortestManOnEarth/pseuds/TheShortestManOnEarth
Summary: Connie knew everything about magic from all the books she'd read since she was a child. She assumed that magic was something that only special people were born with.And from Steven's point of view, she'd be right.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 21
Kudos: 110





	Everything She Does is Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Hi All,
> 
> I know I'm in the middle of "Someday" and my Jam Buds stuff, but this fic came to me when I watched the finale and I needed to write it out. Connie has been one of my favorite SU characters since the beginning. She is the only one who actually gets who Steven is as a person and I cheered when she finally said something to White Diamond. (I'm not going to get into my feelings about White because that's a whole other loaded rant). 
> 
> This is my ode to Connie because she is amazing and I wish she was in SUF more. That said, I want to give a huge shout out to Rebecca Sugar, the Crewniverse, and all the fans here on AO3 for making this world so magical. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this fic.

If you asked Connie Maheswaran if she was magical, she would tell you unequivocally that she wasn’t. Because of course, she knew what magic looked like. After spending her entire life, a whole fifteen, almost sixteen, years reading fantasy novels and concocting theories on how magic worked, she knew what magic looked like. 

There were people, Connie would surmise, wouldn’t know magic if it was standing in front of them in a hat, carrying a broomstick, screaming spells and they still wouldn’t believe it was real. Connie knew. She always had that feeling. But it wasn’t until she moved to Beach City that she confirmed it. 

There was something to be said for the irony of reading a fantasy novel, daydreaming about far away lands, sword fights, and royal families with complicated pasts when a crumbling cliff face almost crushing her, saved only by the magic bubble of a boy she would soon find out was a part of all those storybook worlds. She had been so buried in her imagination, in the text on a page, that she didn’t notice the falling rocks until her normally plain world turned pink. Suddenly she was surrounded by a pink bubble with the eyes of a boy in a red shirt with a star staring down at her. 

“Hi, my name is Steven.” He said it as if it were the most natural and practical thing he’d said in his life, despite the strange pink orb around them, the fallen rocks, and the quaking that caused the rock avalanche in the first place. Or that she’d caught him in her peripheral vision attempting to bike on sand and then running away screaming. An observation she later recounted to him when they took a walk down the beach, hand in hand. 

Despite wanting a fantasy, an adventure, she had been surprised somewhat by the way Steven had arrived in her life. He hadn’t come in riding on a horse, no fanfare, he didn’t wear fancy clothes or a cape, he was just a boy in a t-shirt and jeans. Was that what a prince looked like? He was a prince of sorts after all. His mother was a sovereign of a far-away gem empire. He’d inherited her powers, her magic, and her strength. Steven was magical. This was a simple fact. 

Not only did he have powers that had no basis in logic, his very existence wasn’t something anyone could have predicted was possible. He stood on the precipice of two planes of existence. This small child was a bridge between two different worlds that would soon tumble and crash together. Yes, he was magical in all senses of the word. He could wield powers to heal people and gems alike. No creature could hold a flame to his ability to negotiate terms to unite aliens with humans. Pure passion for every living being drove him to ensure that no one suffered needlessly. Nothing could sate his desire to help others. It was a vast bottomless pit. 

And it sucked him in. Drowned him in his own inability to see his own worth. Hands clapped to his ears to block out any gratitude in the form of repayment. No, that wouldn’t do. A true hero of might and magic didn’t accept rewards. That was simply right and just. That’s how it was written in so many stories. It was just a fantasy. It was just a part of stories, Connie realized. She had to train hard, work hard, and see through the veils of elaborate languages, maps, and adventures to match that standard. To earn the honor of carrying his banner, as a knight of the realm of Steven Universe should. Quiet doubts plagued her every stroke, parry, and blow. Each one seemed to pale in comparison to the bright boy who would be pricked by the thorns of his own roses. 

\-------------------------------------------- 

Steven couldn’t see past the petals that kept falling as he stumbled, lost, and frightened of the disappearing banner of the rebellion he’d been born into. Now he was on his own. 

If you’d asked him if he thought he was magical, the simple answer would be, “I’m magic, well, half magic, on my mother’s side.” But that was a barebones answer to a question that had far more flesh and blood to it. He had powers, yes, but they had turned into spiked thorns and he’d soon turned them in on himself. Was it magic? At twelve, he would have said it was purely magical, extraordinary, and amazing. At sixteen, it felt more like a curse than a gift. After everything, the magic couldn’t help him in the one way he needed. 

Steven could see magic every day. The gems summoned weapons and powers from their embedded stone in ways that would stun the average human. To Steven it was normal. He’d see it over and over. Phrases like, “Oh, that’s just my lion,” flowed like breath from his lungs. _My magical pink lion that my mother brought back from the dead._ To him, the stranger things were people who went to school and took a bus home. He’d never been to school or on a bus save for the one time he ran off with Connie after a disastrous outing with their respective guardians. 

Steven knew magic. It was half of who he was. Magic came out of him in bursts and so much of it was painful as time passed. If someone had powers, be it gem-type magical abilities or otherwise, he could see as plainly as daylight. 

He took his bike out on the beach, pushing against everything that made sense, like riding on a smooth ground, and avoiding dangerous situations. All the while he cast glances at the girl sitting beneath the cliff. He felt something about her that was different. No visible gem or power could be seen, but she stood out to him all the same. He’d remembered her from the parade a year before. She’d worn a glowing plastic bracelet that, logically, should have faded in its vibrancy in that year after she’d dropped it. But it hadn’t. It made him wonder if she had magic keeping it lit. Or maybe that was his own imagination. Either way, he’d been fascinated by her. 

Connie had been enamored with his ability to use his magic. She’d celebrated his growth as a gem as if it were her own. It was clear that she desperately wanted to be a part of the adventures he went on. Her incredulity at his Lion only served to fuel his own enthusiasm and amazement at the wild worlds that gems could access. When she commented on how she couldn’t understand how he’d want to spend time with her, as if she had no powers to speak of, he couldn’t believe it. A flying robot dog was something Amethyst could transform into. But she couldn’t mimic the thrill he had when Connie had stepped behind him, backing him up as they swung his mother’s sword to defeat the real-life robot drone. He’d commented on how it was important to him. How the movie was important because it was so simple. Why, he didn’t realize until later. 

Another afternoon found the two atop the hill by the lighthouse, having a picnic. Steven disclosed that Amethyst had fallen and that he’d been unable to help her heal. Nothing felt right then. He couldn’t do the one thing he felt he needed to do: help. A warm touch to his hand as it clenched on his knees brought him back to her. “You don’t need any powers to be here with me.” Connie was acutely aware that she was human, no powers, no magic, but as far as he could tell, it didn’t bother her. For that brief moment he wondered if he could be okay without magic. If it didn’t matter. Then he saw that he had healed her vision. Magic mattered again. It still hovered over his head. Connie was fine without it. But he wasn’t. 

The gems had lied. Or rather they’d omitted the fact that so many of the gems they’d been bubbling weren’t all good. The Ocean had been sucked up and the entirety of Beach City was left barren, dry, and raw. Steven fared no better. He’d met a gem who needed help but didn’t want it at first. Fighting and magic abilities didn’t calm Lapis’ fury or her pain. Steven felt like his magic wasn’t what was needed. He’d talked Lapis into releasing the Ocean after he healed her gem. No forethought had gone through his head once again and as the tower of water crumbled, he realized he didn’t have the magic he needed. 

Then out of the portal she leapt, no second guesses, no questions, just an extended hand. Connie was riding Lion and coming after him while the gems stayed below. She’d seen a chance to help and took it. No questions asked about what magic it took or if she could drown. A fraction of a second was all it took for her to decide to pull her friend out of the cascading waves as they crashed down to Earth. She’d swept him away from certain death. And he had to catch his breath afterwards. Did she know what power she had? Steven couldn’t place it. It was there though. 

Amazing. That was what she’d said about his ability to dance with the gems. Steven didn’t feel that way when he was stumbling, falling, tripping, and feeling like a fool among alien warriors who were thousands of years old. They far outranked and outstripped him in their magic. Yet Connie had given him a small vulnerability lesson. She’d revealed that she was afraid to dance in front of others. Steven couldn’t believe it. For Connie, the one who leapt fearlessly into a giant tower of water to save his life, to be afraid of being seen dancing felt silly. Nothing could scare someone like that. Nothing should scare this girl who radiated a power that Steven was still continually chasing the word for. What was it? She clearly had a strength that the gems couldn’t touch. Steven felt it as they bounced and dove around on the sand together. When his gem glowed and they fused, it flooded him with a raw energy he couldn’t help but feel delighted by. Was that it? They could fuse and that was her magic? 

Winter roared into Beach City. The two spent an afternoon together roasting marshmallows and then later watching the snow fall. Steven once more wondered why he felt this glow emanating from his best friend that wasn’t related to his gem, his magic, or any magic he could place in her. At least not in the sense he knew. It was something else. But as she lowered herself to the ground next to the couch where he lay, their eyes meeting before looking out at the falling snow. He felt his eyes return to her, transfixed. She wanted to be with him now. No gem adventure, no magic, just the two of them. Why? 

Jasper’s ship crashed and with it was any notion Steven had that these missions, the Homeworld gems, or their intentions, were pure. Maybe he’d been living in a storybook like the ones Connie read to him. But he saw the threat as clearly as the bruise on his face. Connie wasn’t meant to be hurt by this. She was human, she had a choice to stay out of this. This wasn’t her place. But she’d sensed his hesitation, his lies, and his doubts. She’d once again charged into the midst of the wrecked gem ship to find him, demanding he disclose his feelings to her face. His resolve had broken. Something in her voice, the raw pain, the firm fierceness, had broken any barrier he could throw up. How could anyone want this? This mess. “I want to be a part of your universe.” He didn’t ask her to be a part of it. In fact, he refused to let her. But she accepted. A powerful statement and it plowed into his core and stayed there. How had she done it? None of it made sense. Not even his father could get him to walk away. But she had stomped up to his house and given him enough words to cast a spell. There wasn’t any magic there. At least, he didn’t think so. 

Just when he thought she couldn’t gain any more power, she battled a cloud version of herself in Rose’s, his mother’s room. Even Steven struggled to control his mother’s room. It was a dangerous place if misused. But Connie’s protectiveness over him won the day. She’d wielded a power that didn’t exist anywhere in the room. Even his mother’s room stood no chance against her determination. 

She learned to use a sword. It didn’t surprise Steven that she was excellent at it. But he saw far too quickly that she diminished her own worth with each lesson. As he dove in to shield her, he felt that same connection he’d felt the first time they’d fused. They were better, stronger, and more balanced together than apart. It was a magic of its own, even if he was the only one who literally had any to speak of. He wanted to get stronger for her. 

Changes were meant to happen gradually. He wanted to be better for her. A tiny boy couldn’t possibly measure up to a girl who could wield the same level of power as a gem in battle on some days, so he had to be taller, older, and more competent. After he shrunk, she should have run. She should have hidden or taken the ride back home with Greg. But she stayed. No one asked her to. But she did. Her presence brought him back to a sense of comfort and eventually back to his normal age. When she hugged him, held him close and squished his cheeks, he could feel that same twinge of power through her fingers as she insisted that he was fine the way he was. Magically older or not. 

When he was around her, he couldn’t help but feel lighter, forcing him to pay extra attention to his floating powers. Her energetic glee at discovering his ability while they were fused as Stevonnie didn’t help to bring either or them back down. Until he crashed with the memories of those he’d hurt. They were falling through the sky, they could have died, and she only wanted him to be okay. He’d be able to float. But she couldn’t. Her strength broke through the swarms of butterflies. Even his magic couldn’t do that. 

Homeworld had almost destroyed him. It had killed Lars. Only Steven’s magic kept him as a kind of half gem revived human. Magic had brought them to the Diamonds and gotten Lars killed. Returning to Earth had only cemented his mistakes. Connie had been hurt and rightly so. The only thing they shared, the thing he’d realized made them better, had been broken. They hadn’t been a team when it mattered. It didn’t matter that he was half magic when he ignored the one power that was growing stronger between the two friends every day. Once more her resolve woke him up. He wasn’t his mother. She was going to make him believe it. 

The Diamonds returned to Earth. With them came years of fury, pain, and vengeance. Steven resolved try to use his connections, his magic, to reach the Diamonds. As the Diamonds ignored his pleas and told him to sit like a rock, Connie grabbed his hands and told him to dance. She swung him around. Once more that same wild courageous spirit had reached through the fire and flames of thousands of years of strict rules and regulations and conflict to pull him into a better place. They were thrown into prison for it. Yet she was there. She hadn’t left. When he needed to use his powers to connect with the Diamonds before she’d been there to protect his body. Now she did the same. Her presence was more powerful than any barrier or blast the Diamonds could conjure up. When he awoke in her lap, it was as if her warm hold on his torso revitalized him. 

Splitting pain, both literal and physical pinned Steven to the floor. None of the gems could move. They were frozen, trapped by White’s power. But Connie wasn’t. She had held him when he fell from White’s grip. Her small arms had lifted him and carried him to his other half. She’d defied White’s cries telling everyone present who Steven was. Connie knew he was Steven. She had known it since he introduced himself on the Beach that day. She knew that he was part gem, half magic, half human, and completely vulnerable at this moment. Not a single gem could break White’s hold. Not a gem. Connie staggered as she used every ounce of strength she had to bring Steven home, to himself, to make sure he was happy as himself. 

“Are you-you?” 

“I’m me.” There was never a better string of words uttered in Connie’s ears. 

\------------------------------- 

Connie wanted nothing more than to see Steven as himself. But the façade of a happy boy who had boundless love was crumbling. She’d carried him when he was dying, weakened because this dictator who was supposed to be his family had decided who Steven was, who he told her he was, wasn’t good enough. 

That was unacceptable. As the same Diamond, the same controlling alien sovereign who had ripped Steven in half cried as if her pain was all that mattered, Connie had had enough. She leapt up on the Beach House as White Diamond wailed about her pain and made her stand. Enough was enough. Her best friend had transformed into a monster because of the pain he couldn’t tell anyone about. Because everyone else was too selfish to see he was burned out from helping them. 

Steven didn’t need to help anyone else. He’d helped enough for a lifetime. 

Nothing he did was good. He had shattered Jasper. He had fought with his Dad, and he couldn’t help so many gems in pain. His powers were spiraling. He’d never felt this ashamed of magic. All around him were reminders of his failures. No one could control his powers, not even him. 

_**Give up. Give in. You’re a monster.**_

That was the best thing for everyone. To let himself go, to allow them to banish him along with the monster he’d become. 

“Steven.” His eyes saw the small form on his snout. “You must have been so scared to let us see this side of you.” He was. Everything was wrong. _He_ was wrong. Connie didn’t deserve this. 

Connie knew that she didn’t have the same abilities that Steven had. She couldn’t heal gems. The books she read didn’t give her answers to diplomatic questions between alien governments. All her experiences in school didn’t aid her in her gem missions with Steven. 

“I don’t have your healing ability… but…” Steven watched as she leaned in close, pressing her lips to the bridge of his nose. His body slowly shook, and he found himself shrinking. As tears poured from his eyes, he saw her finger brush them aside. 

She said she didn’t have an ability. That she didn’t have magic. As he trembled, cold, and scared, sobbing into Lion’s fur, he thought about the strength he’d felt when she’d kissed him. All those times before when she’d pushed through when no one else could, it was amazing, it was incredible, and there was nothing ordinary about it. 

If you asked Steven Universe what he thought was magical about his life, one would assume it was the gems, the adventures, or the fact that he was storybook prince. All those things would be true. But they wouldn’t be the whole truth. He knew some strong magical beings. Some of them were towering giants the size of buildings. None of them could have brought him back from the darkest point in his life. Save one. 

Only one had returned time and time again to fight with him. Someone who had vowed to stand by him. She was a person who understood that he was fine as Steven, and who wouldn’t let him fall prey to the deepest recesses of the doubts in his mind. 

Each moment with her was a spark. Whether or not she realized it, the spark had ignited a power in her that no one else could dream to touch. It had exploded the moment she had pressed her lips to his scaled face and as his eyes opened, she was all he could see. A bright smiling face stared back at him. Her eyes could see right through his flaws, past his gem, past that giant monster, and right into the human heart beating in his chest. 

If that wasn’t magic, he didn’t know what was.


End file.
